Universal Sports Says Distribution Deal Is Near

Universal Sports CEO David Sternbergsaid the Olympics-style sports proponenthas been working diligently to close carriagepacts with distributors throughoutthe multichannel universe and expects toannounce a pact, perhaps as early as thisweek.

The network, which inked its first licensefeedeal with satellite-TV provider DirecTVlast summer, had been carried as a multicastservice in many of the top DMAs.However, Universal Sports announced lastsummer that it would move to become atraditional cable channel upon the expirationof the multicast contracts with thebroadcasters on Dec. 31, 2011.

Sternberg said the network recentlyreached carriage agreements with Alaskancable operator GCI, Hiawatha BroadbandCommunications in Minnesota,Cascade Communications in Oregon,Waitsfield Cable in Vermont, MTC Cablein New York and Internet-protocol TV distributorSkyAngel. He said the service previouslyhad been offered through some ofthose providers on a multicast basis.

Through the multicast arrangementsand the DirecTV deal, Universal Sportswas in front of some 63 million homesin 52 markets last year. However, sincethe network was retransmitted on digitalcable in only a select number of the markets— and lacked such rights in manyothers — it only counted 30 million actualcable subscribers, plus another 6 millionover-the-air only households.

Asked about the expectation thatUniversal Sports would lose a significantnumber of homes during this transitionper iod, Sternberg replied: “Weacknowledged that six months ago. Itwas a turning point, the decision that wewould no longer give the service away, andthat we needed our distribution partnersto step up and start paying license fees.We had hoped to have a few more largedeals in place by now, but our timing waschallenging.”

Sternberg pointed to many distributorsfacing retransmission-consent dealsand other business issues at the end of2011, but he remains hopeful that thoseexecutives will now have the “bandwidth,figuratively speaking,” to addressUniversal Sports. “We are still verycommitted to our position and confidentthat we’ll get deals done.”

To that end, Universal Sports couldannounce a carriage pact with a majordistributor as early as this week. Sternbergalso said the network was “pretty faralong” with two or three others, and “wecould get to the finish by the end of themonth.”